GEORGIA TECH 45, GEORGIA 42: FROM THE TECH CAMP: Jackets are back and plan to stay

Athens —- Time had elapsed, the sideline hedges were shrinking by the handfuls, and “To Hell With Georgia!” was still echoing in the craniums of numbed and stupefied Bulldogs fans when Dan Radakovich and Paul Johnson embraced on the field.

“We had them all the way,” said Johnson, smiling. And if that was meant even slightly as tongue-in-cheek, maybe it shouldn’t have been.

One game does not balance the scales in a rivalry. But Georgia Tech could not have made a louder or more effective statement than it did Saturday about its program, both present-day and future. Think of a giant footprint coming down and leaving a deep imprint smack on the “G” at Sanford Stadium.

Tech players jumped up and down at midfield after warm-ups, nearly inciting a pre-game brawl with Georgia players who were doing the same inches away. They jumped up and down after scoring 23 points in the first seven minutes of the second half, while Willie Martinez stared on like a wildebeest. They jumped up and down when it was over and the scoreboard read 45-42, ending a seven-year streak of misery.

“This game is going to change everything,” Jackets running back Jonathan Dwyer said. “The way people look at us. The way people have to respect us now. The way we’re going to have a bigger winning record than we’ve had in a while. People can’t ignore us anymore. This is how we play. This is who we are.”

When Radakovich hired Johnson last December, he wanted a coach who could create some excitement and energize a fan base that had become jaded under Chan Gailey. He wanted to raise the stature of a program that felt dwarfed and humbled by the relative Godzilla in Athens.

“I think we did that,” Radakovich said. He motioned to a Tech cheering section and the band playing at the other end of the stadium and added, “Look at all the folks up there. And there’s thousands of Tech alumni in their room right now just having a blast.”

Johnson did this with a lot of players he didn’t recruit. He did this with players meant to play in a different offense. He did this with a program that had gone 0-6 in this rivalry under Gailey —- sometimes ugly (51-7), sometimes close (15-12), but never with a sense of belonging on the same field.

What was it Johnson said earlier in the week? “We’re not afraid. I’m not afraid. What’s the worst thing that can happen. We can lose? We’ve done that.”

Not often. The Jackets are now 9-3 and rising. They look hungry and passionate and well-coached. The other team on the field Saturday also is 9-3 —- but they looked shut out in those three areas.

Dwyer (144) and Roddy Jones (214) combined for 358 of Tech’s 409 rushing yards and four touchdowns. The Jackets trailed 28-12 before scoring touchdowns on their first three possessions of the second half —- two coming on one-play drives.

“You can’t do that with this offense —- it’s 3 yards and a cloud of dust, right?” Johnson said, his words dripping with sarcasm.

Georgia and its maligned defensive coordinator, Martinez, had two weeks to prepare. But the triple-option offense made them look like 6-year-olds trying to find the magician’s disappearing rabbit.

This game was a defining moment —- both for what Georgia has been this year and what Tech may be from now on. Players broke off pieces of hedges when it was over. Some waved the twigs to fans. Some walked with them in their teeth, as if attitude-dancing with long-stemmed roses.

Did Johnson grab any of the hedge?

“Naw —- I figure I’ll be back,” he said. “I mean, act like you think you’re gonna win, right?”

Virginia Tech won its game to clinch the ACC Coastal Division over the Jackets. How often does losing a slot in a conference title game seem like an afterthought?

“That would’ve been the icing on the cake,” Jones said. “But without the icing, the cake’s still pretty good.”

A rivalry is reborn.

jschultz@ajc.com

On ajc.com/sports: Go online for a photo gallery and to discuss the Tech-Georgia game.